Pollan’s
analysis of the “America’s eating disorder” has shown me the flaws and
contradictions in the American food system.
I had always thought that I wanted to know where my food came from and
that it should be humanely raised in open fields. The vegetables and fruits should be raised to
be GMO free. I wanted everything to be
organic or from a farmers market. Although
I had been scolding agribusiness I still bought and ate food that contradicted
what I was preaching. I always thought
well there is no way to possibly change it or achieve the ideal meal.
As I neared the end of the book I
realized how flawed my thinking was. As
Pollen constructed his perfect mean. His
list was as stated.
1.
Everything
on the menu must have been hunted, gathered, or grown by me.
2.
The
menu should feature at least one representative of each edible kingdom: animal,
vegetable, fungus, as well as an edible mineral (the salt).
3.
Everything
served must be in season and fresh. The
meal would reflect not only the places that supplied its ingredients, but a
particular moment in time.
4.
No
money may be spent on the meal, though already purchased items in the pantry
could be deployed as needed.
5.
The
guest list is limited to those people who helped me in my foraging and their
significant others…
6.
I
would cook the meal myself. (p.392)
He
then after gathering everything and spent an entire day in the kitchen
preparing the meal. In the end the meal
was delicious, but Pollan came to an understanding. He said, “The two meals at the far extreme
ends of the spectrum of human eating… The pleasures of one are based on a
nearly perfect knowledge; the pleasures of the other are equally perfect
ignorance.” (p. 410). He goes on to say
how one is born from the diversity of nature and the other shows the advances
of industry.
Everyone falls on the spectrum, but
most likely not at the extremes. The
extremes, I am now realizing, are highly unrealistic. My previous idea of the perfect meal being
humanely raised, organic, and not doused in chemicals is almost impossible to
apply to everyday life. There is no feasible
way to eat the way I thought I wanted to.
It is at that point where one must do the best they can given their
surroundings. There is no perfect
meal.
3 comments:
I sort of want to believe so badly that the perfect meal exists, somehow. I think the sustainable farm is the answer to that - the meat is hormone free and raised in open fields and the fruits and vegetables are GMO free and organic. I think the bigger problem is trying to completely overhaul America's food industry to favor slow, more expensive food, for probably less profit. It would involve totally changing our capitalist values. Does the perfect meal exist? Yeah, probably, but in a faraway idealist dream.
I found the structure of Pollan's home-grown-hunted-foraged-cooked meal so interesting in that he states that it " it should not only reflect the place that supplied its ingredients, but a particular moment in time." when I reflect on this meal it makes me think of a particular moment in time, but not of a contemporary one. I understand that he's referring to the seasonality of the ingredients but the method reminds me of a far simpler time in distant history where people had to hunt and forage for their food. Unfortunately the classic cheeseburger that Pollan eats toward the beginning of the book seems to better reflect our culture ant the way the average contemporary person consumes food.
What I liked most about Pollan's meal is the effort. Food is energy, we use energy to make and gather food, we then consume that energy once again. It is an interesting cycle that, in a way, is defined by Einstein's principle (e=mc^2) and the conservation of energy and mass.
And while I think that these sentiments are interesting and certainly beneficial for the eater as well as what's being eaten, like you, I find it all to be highly romantic and unrealistic. Who has the time to forage for food when we are trying to live our lives? A important part of living in this modern age is access to convenience. Why would you throw something like that to the wind when our ancestors who did raise and forage their food would give anything to have the accessibility to food that we have? It is difficult for me to reconcile the convenience of eating the way that I do with the seemingly few benefits of eating in Pollan's way.
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